The client is still right

Freedom is probably one of the reasons why Internet is so fascinating to all of us. We are free to search, access, share and generate content and information in an incredible variety of ways. When it comes to the Web, however, freedom has been constantly challenged by economic interests, legal norms, conventionalism, moral principles, and plain fear. From the music industry freaking out about Napster to the Iranian government freaking out about tweets, it seems that someone will always worry about the form freedom adopts in the cyberspace.

Online freedom has come in different flavors. The latest and tastiest one being social media. The Web 2.0 revolution has empowered people in such a way that individuals have now in their hands a perfect tool to make a significant impact on practically anything. Word of mouth has proven to be an effective instrument to generate action and companies are increasingly following online conversations to improve their business strategies.

Not everyone is happy about that in the corporate world though. For many CEOs and top level executives, reaching out to social media in order to promote their products and brands has been dominated by fear and skepticism. At the center of that attitude lives the perception that regular, normal people are unable to produce high-quality branding. For the first time in many years, the client apparently is not always right.

Fortunately, the last statement may be valid only for some businesses. More than ever before, the client is still right and social media is here to challenge corporate conventionalism. Visionary businesses will take advantage of the infinite possibilities that social media offers. Conventional ones, out of fear of losing control of "something," will keep doing business as usual. That, of course, does not mean that traditional businesses are doomed to fail and visionary businesses are supposed to make profits every time they venture into social media.

The truth is that social media, as an expression of online freedom, offers the potential to shape the world from the bottom. We, the people, are finally able to challenge everything and there is nothing conventionalism can do about it. A wise business should try to remember that the client is still right.

Friendly social media guide for small businesses

I don't know for how long this document has been running in the cyberspace but today I discovered Dell's Social Media for Small Businesses guide on Facebook. Apart from being an easy-to-read manual (you can actually download the whole thing), this guide is divided into different sections that provide real case scenarios of companies that have taken advantage of social media to promote their own businesses.

To take a look at the guide, click HERE.